AFC Notes: Browns, Colts, Patriots

Browns

Browns’ WR Jarvis Landry discussed how players like LG Joel Bitonio and LS Charley Hughlett had suffered through some tough seasons in Cleveland, but their hard work is finally starting to come to fruition after their win over the Giants.

“I just kind of stood there and I am staring at them, and like, ‘Can you believe it?’’’ Landry said, via Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com. “It’s something that again I talk about the fans deserving it, but those guys and 1-31, you know how tough that is being that they worked so hard and knowing the type of players that they are. To be in this position now, it’s definitely gratifying to see the smile on their faces and see that everything that they went through was not in vain. Now, we are in a different place, and hopefully, this is the standard from now on and they’re going to be a part of it.”

Bitonio is thrilled to finally be part of a winning culture after it took him four years of his career to win just ten games.

“I was telling my wife the other day, it took me like four years to win 10 games at one point where it was just so long,’’ Bitonio said. “To experience a winning culture and just be on a winning program for once, it’s something you want to be a part of and you dreamed of being a part of. Every year, you thought you were part of that turnaround and you are making that charge. It’s been really fun this year, and we have a lot to go. We’re still trying to fight to get in the playoffs, and we’re just trying to beat the Jets this week. Big picture, to get to 10 wins and to start that turnaround and hopefully, start a winning culture here in Cleveland where it is like every year this team is battling for the AFC North and playoff contention and the goal is to win Super Bowls eventually, that’s what we are fighting for. To be a part of the turnaround, it is one of those things where you are going to look back, and man, there are some dark days there, there are some things where you do not remember what winning was, and now, I do think you enjoy the wins and the experiences just a little bit more when you have been through that.”

Colts

• In an interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio, Colts HC Frank Reich said QB Philip Rivers still isn’t 100 percent from his toe injury but it is improving. 
• Reich said he can’t get Rivers to talk about the injury, which affects how much he knows, but he can say it wasn’t a minor ding: “He’s such a tough competitor. It was a significant toe injury, as anybody who’s had that [can attest[. They come in degrees and his was severe. The first couple weeks were touch and go, he really fought through it hard.”

Patriots

Father Time can come swiftly for defensive backs in their 30s. But 33-year-old Patriots S Devin McCourty is still fairly effective and has no plans to cut short his current contract in New England that runs through the 2021 season. 

“I’m still enjoying football,” McCourty said via ESPN’s Mike Reiss. “I plan on playing next year. Just trying to finish out these two games the best way I can, and then when the offseason hits, evaluate and all that stuff. But still feel pretty healthy and love going out there and competing.”

• Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes that if Cam Newton is active for the final two games of the regular season and maintains a playing-time percentage above 80 percent, he’ll finish the year earning $3.706 million.
• Newton’s one-year deal with the Patriots was worth a maximum of $7.5 million, but the Patriots would have had to win the Super Bowl for him to get the full amount.
• Instead, Newton is in line to receive a $1.05 million base salary, a per-game roster bonus of $43,750 for 15 games and a $2 million playing-time incentive.